4th Lviv Tourism Forum “Win with the Lion” 2012

As the only European Cities Marketing (ECM) member in
Ukraine for now, Lviv enjoys the benefits of a network of over 110 European
travel destinations. During its annual forum “Win with the Lion” on November 21-22,2012
Lviv again brought together a vast number of tourism professionals, private
stakeholders and entrepreneurs from the whole Ukraine as well as throughout
Europe for interactive exchanges and innovative ideas about tourism marketing,
trends and shortcomings in Lviv.

In 2012 the Forum focused on the meetings and events
industry as the organisers are confident that it shows great potential in
Ukraine and Lviv in particular. The central theme was phrased in the form of a
question “Meetings and events industry – Ukraine, are you ready to benefit?”,
which the participants tried to answer during the event.

The representatives of the ECM member-cities were
invited to share best practices on the topic – Ignacio de Delàs (Deputy General
Manager of Turisme de Barcelona), Roger Pride (Managing Director at Cardiff and
Co) and Beata Palis (Managing Director of Krakow Convention Bureau). The meetings
industry leaders made presentations on the new trends and challenges that
should be considered by emerging destinations – Paul Kennedy (Director and
Owner of Kennedy Integrated Solutions, a meetings industry consultancy),
Elisabeth Hansa (Owner of ICBD - Hansa, International consultancy and business
development, Meeting industry and corporate events) and Tom Hulton (Director for
International Relations at IMEX Group).

In 2012 “Win with the Lion” partnered with IMEX Group,
one of the world’s leading companies organising exhibitions for incentive travel,
meetings and events. Not only does IMEX Group organise two major annual events,
IMEX Frankfurt and IMEX America in Las Vegas, it is also very active in the
education and development of the meetings industry worldwide. The Politicians
Forum held during IMEX in Frankfurt each year proves the Group’s commitment to
highlighting the value of the industry to governments globally.

“Win with the Lion” is evolving year by year, adding
new sessions. In 2012 the delegates had the opportunity to attend a seminar on
the topic “How Ukraine can stay on the map in 2013” that was organised in
partnership with the European Tour Operators Association (ETOA) and moderated
by Nick Greenfield,Head of Tour Operator Relations.

Since in 2011 the Tourist Information Centres Workshop
proved to be a success and enjoyed much popularity, it continued in
2012with the support of GIZ andattracted the representatives of newly
established tourist information centres from all over Ukraine to gain knowledge
and best practices from European experts.

The Forum discussions resulted in the meetings and
events industry having been identified as one of the city development
priorities. The local decision-makers made a commitment to develop this
industry in Lviv and further discussions are currently underway.

SupportedOrganisers general partner official carrier

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"TripAdvisor,
and I personally, are very happy to participate in this event. The
Ukraine market is becoming more and more important and we are very happy
to share experiences and thoughts with the audience and are looking
forward to doing more business with our existing partners and new
partners"

Thomas Bangert, Director Display EU, TripAdvisor

"It’s
a great opportunity to meet with professionals of the tourism and hotel
industry, provide them with a better understanding of Booking.com
vision and probably help to find something new and valuable for our
common business."

Ekaterina Volkova, Director of Booking.com Office in Ukraine

“The Forum is first of
all and most importantly about generating debate within Ukraine and within the
city. Because until that debate happens at local level, no country, no
destination, no city can actually really compete on the international market.”

“The Win with the Lion conference in Lviv is a very professionally organised congress which provides very useful and practical up-to-date information to its participants. I especially like the wide range of tourism related topics covered during its meetings, which give a good overview of the hottest topics in tourism today.”

Gabriela Schweinberger, international business coach and consultant, Berlin, Germany

“Win with the Lion is an event that everyone, even the most experienced travel professional, can learn from. It’s a great opportunity to hear experiences, share ideas and make connections. And the fact that it’s held in a gem of a city like Lviv just makes it even more appealing.”